Control device for doughnut machines



J1me 3 A. s. T. LAGAARD 2,162,558

CONTROL DEVICE FOR DOUGHNUT MACHINES Filed June 27, 1938 5 Sheen s-Sheetl Alexander ST! Lagaara gfii June 13, 1939. s, LAGAARD 2,162,558

CONTROL DEVICE FOR DOUGHNUT MACHINES Filed June 27, 1938 s Sheefs-Shet 5Alexander S. T. Laga ard Patented June13, 1939' I I I V UNITED STATES;PATENT OFFICE CONTROL DEVICE FOR DOUGHNUT MACHINES Alexander S. T.Lagaard, Minneapolis, Minn., as-

signor to Dough-King, Inc., Minneapolis, Minn., a corporation ofMinnesota Application June 27, 1938, Serial No. 216,025

9 Claims. (Cl. 537) My invention relates to control devices for Fig. 4is a view similar to Fig. 1 of a modificadoughnut machines andparticularly to devices tion of the invention. for controlling thetravel of doughnuts to a dough- Fig. 5 is an elevational sectional viewtaken on nut turner or ejector of the continuous type such line 5 -5 ofFig. 4. as disclosed in the application for patent of Fig. 6 is a viewsimilar to Fig. 5 showing the 5 Peter J. Toews, Serial Number 114,395,filed Dec. parts in altered position.

6, 1936. Fig. '7 is a cross sectional View taken on line An object ofthe invention resides in providing 1-! of Fig. 5 and drawn to a largerscale. a device by means of which the travel of dough- Fig. 8 is anelevational sectional view taken nuts is positively and effectivelycontrolled. on line 8--8 of Fig. 7. 10

Another object of the invention resides in pro- Fig. 9 is a pl n ViewSimilar o 1 illu t a viding a device which will not injure the dough- 8St ll anot er form of the invention. nuts. Fig. 10 is a longitudinalelevational sectional A still furtherobject of the invention residesView taken on line llllll of Fig. 9. is, i providing a d i hi h will notcause j m- Fig. 11 is a cross sectional view taken on line 15 ming ofthe doughnuts. H.--l'l of Fig. 10 and drawn to a larger scale.

Another objectof the invention resides in pro- Fi 12 i a fragmentaryelevational w taken viding a control device which will operate with online I 2-=l2 of F deformed or irregular shaped doughnuts. In theapplication for patent of Peter J. Toews,

An'object of the invention, resides in providing ab referred a doughnutmachine is d 20 'a control device having an engaging member closed inwhich the doughnuts are deposited in which is alternately moved from oneto the other a cooking liquid contained in a pan or receptacle of twopositions in the course of travel of the providing a y along Which tdoughnuts y doughnuts whereby the doughnuts are first artravel and inwhich the doughnuts are progressed restedat one position and thenarrested at anthrough prop s n of kin liq d. In this 25 other position.way are disposed a turner and an ejector both Another object of theinvention resides in pro- 0f the c t nuous yp which e d p d to t vidinga device in which the engaging member or eject the doughnuts y e tdoughnuts ismoved from the one position tothe other in a r ach the s mWith such device it becomes short enough time so-that control of thedoughnecessary 'P e some means for Controlling :0

nuts is still maintained. the rate of travel of the doughnuts to theturner An object of the invention resides in providing or ej w c in tapp ation for patent a device in which the engaging member operates ofPeter J. Toews, referred to, consisted of a pair between the doughnutsso as to prevent injury of alternately movable gates. The presentinventhereto. tion is of the nature of said gates and may be 35 Anotherobject of the invention resides in aru ed in Subst tu o thereof. rangingthe engaging member so that the same Inasmuch as the construction ofdoughnut mamay travel principally beneath the cooking liquid chines withwhich my invention may beused is and engage the doughnuts from beneath.well known in the art, a complete doughnut ma- 4 Another object of theinvention resides in prochine hasnot been illustrated in thisapplication "0 viding a control device Which may be readily opand onlyso much of the doughnut machine as is erated by means of alongitudinally reciprocable necessary to describe the present inventionhas link or rod. been shown.

. Other objects of the invention reside in the In .the drawings aportion of a doughnut manovel combination andarrangement of parts andchine A has been illustrated which consists of a 45 in the details ofconstruction hereinafter illuspan l0 having a way II in the same. Thispan trated and/or described. contains the cooking liquid the level ofwhich is In the drawings: indicated by the reference numeral I2 in Fig.2. Fig. 1 is a plan view of a portion of a dough- The cooking liquidtravels in the direction of the nut machine illustrating an embodimentof my arrow as shown in Fig. 2 and causes the progres- 5 inventionapplied thereto. sion of doughnuts along the way, the doughnuts Fig. 2is an elevational sectional view taken on floating upon the surface ofthe cooking liquid. line 2-2 of Fig. 1. The pan I0 is constructed withside walls 13 and Fig. 3 is a cross sectional view taken on line H andabottom l5 connected therewith. as 3-3 of Fig. 2 and drawnt'o a largerscale. The invention proper comprises :an engaging member I6 which isconstructed in the form of by means of rivets I9 to two arms 2| and 22.Arm

2| is secured to a spur pinion 23 which is rotatably mounted on a stud24 secured to a support 25. Arm 22 is similarly attached to a spurpinion 26 which is rotatably mounted on a stud 21, also secured to thesupport 25.

The support 25 consists of a plate 28 which is constructed at its lowerend with a base 29. Base 29 rests upon a flange 3| issuing outwardlyfrom the wall I3 of the pan II]. The support 25 is secured to the saidwall by means of screws 32 which pass through the base 29 and arethreaded into the flange 3|. Intermediate the two studs 24 and 21 isformed on the plate 28 a bearing 33. This bearing has journaled in it ashaft 34 which has rigidly secured to it a spur gear 35. Gear 35 mesheswith the spur pinions 23 and 26 and is considerably larger than the sameso that a slight rotation of shaft 34 will give the necessary movementto the arms 2| and 22. The shaft 34 has secured to it, on the side ofthe plate 28 opposite the gear 35 an arm 31 which has pivoted to it bymeans of a pintle 38 a link 39. Link 39 is operated by the transmissionof the machine and is adapted to be moved at suitable intervals toprocure operation of the control device. I

The plunger or engaging member I6 moves upwardly and longitudinally ofway IIfrom its position shown in full lines in Fig. 2 to its dottedposition indicated at 39 in the same figure through an arc of a circle.Due to the length of the arms 2| and 22 the arm 22 passes the stud 24,arm 2| and the gear 35. In order to make the parts clear the pinion 26is constructed with a hub 4| which extends outwardly therefrom and towhich the arm 22 is secured. In this case the stud 21 is considerablylonger'than the stud 24 journaling the gear 23. Also aspacer sleeve 42is placed between the arm 2| and link I8 whereby the link I 8 clears thestud 24. It will thus be readily seen that the link I8 and plunger I6may move from the cooking liquid through an arc of a circle above thecooking liquid and back in to the cooking liquid.

The operation of the invention is as follows: For the purpose ofillustration I have shown dia-e grammatically in Fig. 1 three doughnuts43, 44

and 45. Two of these doughnuts are also shown in altered position at 43aand 44a in both Figs. 1 and 2. Assume that the engaging member I6 is inthe position shown in full lines in Fig. 1 and in dotted lines in Fig.2. Doughnut 45 would then be engaging the engaging member I6 and. thedoughnuts 43 and 44 in back would be held from movement. If the devicebe now operated by movement of the arm 31 and link 39 toward the rightas viewed in Fig. 2, the link I8 and engaging member I6 would firsttravel upwardly and then toward the left and back again into the cookingliquid. Throughout such movement the link I8, due to the use of the twoarms 2| and 22, would remain always vertical and when reentering thecooking liquid would descend in a vertical direction. The path ofmovement of the round end II of the said engaging member'would be in anarc of a circle, the radius of which would be equal to the length ofeither of the arms 2| or 22 between the axes of the pivotal connectionsthereof. This radius is such that, if the doughnuts did not travelduring such movement, the engaging member would re-enter the cookingliquid in the corner formed between the doughnuts 44 and 45. Themovement of the engaging member I6 is made fairly rapidly as comparedwith the normal rate of travel of the doughnuts and I have found inactual practice the time taken for the doughnuts to gain normaltraveling speed is considerably greater than the time required to movethe engaging member I6. It is thus possible to bring the engaging memberI6 back into the cooking liquid before the doughnut 44 has traveled adistance suflicient to engage the same. After the engaging member is inthe position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1 and full lines in Fig. 2,doughnut 45 flows away from the control device and to the turner orejector and the doughnuts 43 and 44 move up to the positions shown at42a and 4311 where the doughnut 44 engages the engaging member l6 andarrests the travel of the other doughnuts behind it. As soon as, thedoughnut 45 has moved out of the way the engaging member I6 is movedback to its original position shown in full lines in Fig. 1 and thedoughnuts flow up to it, until doughnut 44 is arrested thereby. Thedevice is now in position to be operated in the same manner tosuccessively release doughnuts, as described.

In Figs. 4 to 8 inclusive I have shown a modification of the invention.In this form of the invention the doughnut engaging member operatesprincipally beneath the level of the cooking liquid andengages thedoughnut to be released intermediate the end thereof so as to raise thedoughnut and cause the same to slide off the engaging member by gravityprior to the arrival of the following doughnut to its engaged position.This form of the invention has been shown in connection with a doughnutmachine similar to that previously described and the description thereofwill not be repeated and reference numerals preceded by the digit 1 willbe used to designate corresponding parts.

In this form of the invention a support I25 is employed, similar to thesupport 25, which journals a shaft I34. This shaft carries a spur gear II35 which meshes with two pinions I23 and I26; Pinions I23 and I26 areboth positioned beneath the shaft I34 and are rotatably mounted on twostuds I24 and I2! secured to the plate I28 of support I25. The twopinions I23 and I26 have rigidly secured. to them arms I2I and I22which, in this form of the invention, are formed curved as illustratedin Fig. 8 and are also offset as designated at I20 so that the said armsmay clear each other in the movement of said arms from one extremeposition to the other. Operating in conjunction with the arms I2I andI22 is a hanger or supporting member III] which has pivotally attachedto it two bosses |4I and I42. These bosses are threaded to receivescrews I5| which pass through slots I52 in the ends of the arms I2I andI22. By means of this construction the hanger H8 is pivoted to the twoarms I2I and. I22 and may be adjusted with respect to the axes of thestuds I24 and I21 so as to cause the said hanger to'movethrough ashorter or longer arc as desired. Secured to the lower end of the hangerH8 is a rod I53 which has secured to it an. engaging member I54. Theengaging member. I54 is constructed in'the form of a perforated platewhich has a bead I55 at the upper portion of the same encircling a rodI53 which is attached to the hanger II8.'

The operationzof this form of the invention is as follows: In normalposition the engaging member I54occupies the position shown in Fig. 6 inwhich the doughnuts I45 and I44 are situated behind the same. When thedevice is operated the engaging member drops downwardly and beneath thedoughnut I45 striking the. same upon the under surface thereof, asindicated in Fig. 5 to raise the doughnut and cause the same to slideoff from said engaging member and into the current of the cooking liquidat a locality beyond said engaging member. At the same time the engagingmember I54 is brought immediately in back of the doughnut I44 arrestingthe travel of this doughnut and the doughnuts behind the same. DoughnutI45 now travels beyond the device. Theengaging member I54 is now movedback to its original position as shown in Fig. 6 and the column ofdoughnuts behind the same travel up to the said engaging member andbecome arrested thereby, doughnut I 44 now occupying the positionoriginally occupied by doughnut I45 in Fig. 6.

In Figs. 9 to 12 inclusive, still another form of the invention is shownin which'the engaging member travels beneath the level of the cookingliquid and is moved into position between the doughnuts thereby avoidingstriking the same. This form of the invention has again been showninconjunction with a doughnut machine similar to that previouslydescribed and the description 3 thereof will not be repeated. However,the same reference numerals preceded by the digit 2 will be used todesignate corresponding parts. In this form of the invention the shaft234 extends com: pletely across the way I I and is supported by both thewalls I3 and I4 of the pan II). For this purpose a support 225 isutilized which has a bearing 233 and also an additional bearing 26I isemployed which is secured to the wall I 4. Shaft 234 is operated bymeans of a pinion 262 attached to the end of the same which meshes witha gear segment 263 pivotally mounted on a stud 264 secured to thesupport 225. This segment is operated by means of a link 265 pivoted tothe said gear segment at 266.

Attached to the shaft 234, adjacent the bearings 233 and 26I,:are twoarms 261 and 268 which have bosses 269 formed thereon and through whichthe shaft 234 extends. These bosses are secured to the shaft by means ofset screws 21I. At the ends of the arms 261 and 266 are blades 212 whichproject outwardly from said arms and toward one another. These bladesare ovular in cross section as shown in Fig. 10 and of such dimensionsas to be movable into the corners between the doughnuts 245, 244 and 243shown in the drawings. The arms 261 and 268 have beveled edges 213 whichprevent the doughnuts from catching on the same and cause the doughnutsto travel through the way I I with out obstruction.

The operation of the invention is as follows: When the arms 261 and 268are in the position shown in Fig. 9 the doughnut 245 engages the sameand its movement and that of the doughnuts in back of it are held frommovement. When arms 261 and 26B are swung downwardly and rearwardly tothe position shown in Fig. 10 the doughnut 245 is freed and the blades212 brought up into the vacant spaces between the corners of thedoughnuts as shown in Fig. 9. This movement takes place so rapidly thatthe succeeding doughnuts do not have time to advance sufficiently tointerfere with the movement of. the blades. The doughnuts 243 and 244then travel through the current of the cooking liquid to the positionsindicated at dotted lines 243a and 244a in which the doughnut 244 nowengages the blades 212. The doughnut 245 may now travel away from thedevice and as soon as the same is clear, the device is operated in theopposite direction to bring the blades 212 back to the positions shownin Fig. 9. In this form of the invention the blades 212 constitute theengaging members which engage the doughnut similar to the member I6 ofFig. 1 and the member I54 of Figs. 5 and 6.

The advantages of my invention are manifest.

An extremely simple and practical construction is provided for producingthe desired results. A unitary device is employed for engaging thedoughnuts which eliminates the use of spaced engaging member moves outof the position of obstruction in a manner such as to prevent injury tothe doughnuts. In one form of my invention the engaging member is at alltimes moved in parallelism so that the same is in proper position toobstruct the doughnuts when reaching obstructing position.

Changes in the specific form of my invention, as herein disclosed, maybe made within the scope of what is claimed without departing from thespirit of my invention.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to protectby Letters Patent is:

1. In a doughnut machine in which the dough-. nuts are progressed alonga way through the flow of cooking liquid, an engaging member adapted tobe moved from one position in the'way to another position in the wayspaced from the first position in the direction of flow of the cookingliquid to release the doughnuts one at a time for travel along said way.

2. In a doughnut machine in which the doughnuts are progressed along away through the flow of cooking liquid, an engaging member for engagingthe doughnuts to arrest the movement of the same, means for guiding saidengaging member for movement from a position engaging a doughnut in theway to a position up stream of its original position in the way andthrough a path clearing the doughnut held by said engaging memberwhereby said engaging member is brought into position to obstruct thetravel of the following doughnut.

3. In a doughnut machine in which the doughnuts are progressed along away through the flow of cooking liquid, an engaging member for engagingthe doughnuts to arrest the travel of the same, means for guiding saidengaging member for movement from a position engaging a doughnut in theway to a position up stream of its original position in the way andthrough a path clearing the doughnut previously held by said engagingmember whereby said engaging member is brought into position to obstructthe travel of the following doughnut, said means further guiding saidmember for movement back to its original position.

. 4. In a doughnut machine in which the doughnutsare progressed along away through the flow of..,.cooking fluid, a pivoted arm, an engagingmember carried by said arm and movable therewith from one position inthe course of travelof the doughnut along the way to another position inthe course of travel of the doughnut along the way to successivelyobstruct the travel of first one doughnut and thereafter the succeedingdoughnut in the way thereby releasing the doughnuts one at a time.

5. In a doughnut machine in which the doughnuts are progressed along away through the flow of cooking liquid, a shaft extending transverselyof said way and disposed in proximity to the level of the cookingliquid, an arm carried by said shaft, an engaging member carried by saidarm and adapted to be swung with said arm from one to the other of twopositions in said way disposed in spaced relation with respect to thedirection of travel of the doughnuts in the way and driving meansconnected to said shaft.

6. In a doughnut machine in which the doughnuts are progressed along away through the flow of cooking liquid, a shaft extending transverselyof said way and disposed in proximity to the level of the cookingliquid, an arm carried by said shaft, an engaging member carried by saidarm and adapted to be swung with said arm from one to the other of twopositions in said way disposed in spaced relation with respect to thedirection of travel of the doughnuts in the Way,

' driving means connected to said shaft said driving means operating tomove the engaging member throughout a portion of the travel thereofthrough the cooking liquid and beneath the doughnut arrested by saidengaging member.-

'7. In a doughnut machine in which the doughnuts are progressed along away through the flow of cooking liquid, a support, two arms pivotallyconnected to said support, an operating member, transmission meansbetween said operating member and arms for causing said arms to travelin parallelism and an engaging member carried by said arms and movedfrom one position to another in said way.

8. In a doughnut machine in which the doughnuts are progressed along away through the flow of cooking liquid, a support, a gear rotatablymounted on said support, two pinions rotatably mounted on said supportand meshing with said gear, arms movable with said pinions, and anengaging member carried by said arms and movable in parallelism therebyfrom one position to another in the direction of travel of the cookingliquid in said way.

9. In a doughnut machine in which the doughnuts are progressed along away through the f

